


Silence

by BlazeThePhoenix



Category: LEGO Nexo Knights
Genre: Axl is a gentle giant, Clay needs a hug, Lance is done, Protective big sister Macy, Team as Family, This is my Headcanon and you can't convince me otherwise, headcanons
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-17
Updated: 2020-07-17
Packaged: 2021-03-04 20:21:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,479
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25322314
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlazeThePhoenix/pseuds/BlazeThePhoenix
Summary: Aaron Fox has a secret. One that he really doesn’t want the other knights to know.Unfortunately, it comes out anyways.
Comments: 49
Kudos: 22





	Silence

**Author's Note:**

> I was rewatching the episodes and got into thinking...and this headcanon happened and now you can't convince me otherwise.

Aaron muttered softly under his breath as he fiddled with his headphones. The device was acting up lately and he _had_ to get it fixed as soon as possible. Of course, he could just take his headphones to Ava, but then she would _know_.  
And he didn’t want anyone to _know_.  
Putting the device back together, Aaron put them on. Just in time for the alarm to go off. The copper top quickly grabbed his hovershield and ran to the command center, passing Lance as the rich boy staggered out of his room while grumbling about his beauty sleep being interrupted.  
Jestro and the Book of Monsters were causing trouble again. Big surprise.

* * *

Okay, so this _isn’t_ like any other time where Jestro causes trouble and they would go in and defeat the monsters and then Jestro calls a retreat. These monsters were actually pretty _good_ at fighting.  
Clay and the others were holding a defense line to keep the monsters from getting into the town while Aaron picked off those that got past from his position up on his hovershield.  
Jestro gave a yell of frustration, then called a retreat.  
“Yea-hah!” Aaron exclaimed, giving a fist pump.  
He didn’t notice the rock thrown by one of the retreating monsters. But Macy did.  
“AARON!” He turned just as the rock hit him. And it hit _hard_ , knocking him from his hovershield, and dazed.  
Axl just barely managed to catch him and carefully set him on his feet. “Are you okay?” The gentle giant asked.  
But that one question made the loudest white noise erupt in the archer’s ears. With a pained shout, Aaron threw off his helmet and yanked the headphones off, clutching his ears. Axl kept a hand on his shoulder, keeping him upright.  
_**Guess it’s time for a new pair**_ , he thought grimly.  
A new, smaller hand grabbed his other shoulder and he looked up to face his leader.  
*Are you okay?*  
“Other than my headphones being trashed and almost splitting my head in half, I’m fine.”  
*Good. I was worried. You weren’t answering us.*  
“You try hearing normally after getting an earful of this.” He handed the phones to Clay, who put them next to his ear, then jerked them back quickly.  
*Good point.* Aaron barely hid a smug grin.

* * *

Aaron tried to follow the conversation, he really did. But he wished that whoever was gonna talk next would make some sort of signal so he would know who he had to look at. And don’t get him started on Merlok.  
So he sat there, elbow on the table, cheek smushed against his left fist, and having _no idea_ of what’s going on. Aaron absentmindedly traced the patterns on the table with a finger.  
The sudden vibration of the table made him jump and look up. Everyone was staring at him, Clay’s open palms against the table.  
“What?”  
*Do you know what we’re talking about?* Clay demanded, eyes angry.  
“Not a clue.”  
*Then pay attention.*  
*Are…you sure you’re okay, Aaron?* Macy asked, looking worried.  
“I’m fine, that rock only grazed me. It did more damage to my helmet and headphones then it did me.”  
*You just seem…more spacey than usual.*  
“Still got that white noise rattling around my head. It’s quite distracting.”  
*Right. Anyways…* and Clay turned to face Merlok. Aaron gave a soft sigh and sat back in his seat, crossing his arms. He acted as if he knew what was going on, then left as soon as the meeting was over.  
He had to make a call.

* * *

Aaron drummed his fingers on the console as he waited for them to pick up. Finally, a copper top with squared glasses and a soft dusting of freckles answered.  
*Aaron! What’s up?!*  
“Hey, Regina. D’y’think Jordan or Chris could get me another pair of headphones?”  
*Well…yeah, but what’s wrong with the ones you have now?* She asked, confusion clear on her face.  
“They’ve been acting up and in the last battle they got busted.”  
*How badly?*  
“Nothing but white noise.”  
Reggie winced. *Ooooh…Yeah, I’ll tell Jordan asap. How soon do you need them.*  
“Heh, now.”  
Confusion returned to her face, *now? Why? Doesn’t any of your teammates know-?* She cut herself off as she looked at something behind him. Aaron turned around to see Robin walking in.  
*Hey, Aaron! Who’s this?*  
“Robin, meet Regina. Reggie, this is our resident mechanic, Robin.”  
*Hi!* The young boy waved. Reggie simply gave a nod, then turned back to him.  
*So, I’m gonna assume that they don’t know.*  
“Right.” Aaron faintly registered Robin moving around, probably trying to figure out what they were talking about.  
*Right. Well, we’ll get ‘em to ya as soon as we can. I guess for now, you’re on your own.*  
“The sooner the better, but thanks. And tell the gang I said hi.”  
*Will do, bro! Talk to ya soon!*  
“Talk to ya soon, sis.” And they both hung up. Aaron took a deep breath and released it in a sigh before turning to Robin.  
*Were you ignoring me on purpose?* The boy pouted.  
“Of course not, little dude! I was just in a pretty serious conversation.”  
*What is it that we don’t know?* Of course he’d ask that.  
“Uhhhh…something.” Robin pouted again. Thankfully, Ava had chosen that moment to walk in.  
*And why are you two at the communication terminal?* Aaron could practically see the sass dripping from that sentence. But it’s Ava, almost everything she says is sassy.  
**_How does that much sass live in such a tiny girl?_** He asked himself. Then again, Dakota was pretty sassy as a toddler, and even more so as a teen.  
“Making a quick call to home, that’s all.” He replied, earning a confused look from the girl. The archer didn’t dwell on it and hurried out of the room.  
_**{A/N: I never made it clear, but Robin was behind Aaron and was telling Ava something, but Aaron accidentally cut him off, which was why Ava was confused.}**_

* * *

Aaron sighed as he wandered the halls of the Fortrex. All he really wanted to do was go to his room, but he couldn’t. So he went to the rec room and sat in the armchair. Axl and Lance were already there and playing a video game. Judging by Richmond’s frustrated face, Axl was winning. Aaron smiled and watched the game play out in silence.  
_Silence_. The most deafening word and the only one that has had the archer trapped for _years_. Thinking back to when Whiparella tried to find his fear, he realized that Merlok was only half right. It wasn’t that Aaron was afraid of doing nothing; he was afraid of the _silence_ that doing nothing brought (that and being ADHD didn’t help…). To do nothing was to trap him back in the world of no sound, to remind him of the struggles of trying to act like he knew what was going on when all he could do was read lips and try to follow who was speaking, remind him how only his brothers and sisters understood and could have a conversation with him.  
Until his older sister and brother built the headphones. The headphones that allowed him to hear conversations, hear _music_ , to _know what was going on_! It was only through the headphones that he could start learning how to talk and express his feelings in ways other than writing or sign language. He could finally go to _school_ like a normal kid and _play_ with normal kids. Sure, he had to wear the headphones all the time, but everyone was cool with it.  
It was only when they broke that reality came back to Aaron. Reminded him that _he_ was _broken_. That he could never be _normal_.  
He hadn’t realized he was crying until a large hand was placed on his shoulder. How could’ve he not noticed someone as large as Axl moving to kneel beside him?! Heck, even _Lance_ was looking worried.  
*What’s wrong.* Axl more demanded than asked. Aaron couldn’t hear the tone, but could tell by body language. The archer quickly wiped the tears off his face and gave a smile.  
“Nothing really. I’m fine.”  
Lance raised a brow and crossed his arm, *you keep saying that and in my experience, those who say they’re fine are actually hiding the worst pain.*  
Aaron gave him a bewildered look, “who are you and what have you done to Lance?”  
Richmond rolled his eyes, *ha ha. Let’s just say I know from personal experience.*  
He looked at the ground, “really, guys, it’s nothing.”  
Axl lifted a finger to tap his shoulder, making Aaron look at him again. *It’s not nothing if it’s bothering you. We’re your friends, you should be able to tell us if something troubles you.*  
“I don’t want to cause a hassle, it’s fine.” And he looked away again. Axl didn’t remove his hand, just let the copper top sit in **-ugh-** silence for a bit, then did the finger tap again.  
Aaron cringed, turned to face them again. Lance was looking quite peeved now, most likely from being (accidentally!) ignored. Axl managed to catch his attention.  
*You’re reading our lips, aren’t you?* Aaron’s eyes widened with panic and he made to move away. Axl only tightened his grip, *it’s okay, I’m only mouthing the words.*  
“H-how-?” he whispered.  
*There’s two kids in my hometown that had to do the same. They were very self-conscious about it, too. Sound familiar?* Axl grinned in his friendly way. The archer slumped his shoulders with a sigh.  
Then a pillow connected with his face and made him toppled backwards. Aaron sat up and removed the pillow only to be greeted by the sight of Lance pacing and, no doubt, throwing a fit about being ignored. Aaron groaned and recovered his face with the pillow as Axl tried to calm Lance down. Even worse, he caught sight of Clay and Macy running into the room.  
Worst. Day. _EVER._

* * *

/\\\//\\\//\\\//\\\//\\\//\\\//\\\//\\\//\\\//\\\//\\\//\\\//\\\//\\\//\\\//\

* * *

Aaron _somehow_ managed to slip away while Clay and Macy were focused on Lance’s fit (although, he’s pretty sure Axl helped a little). So, with nowhere else to go, he went to his room and plopped onto his bed. Trying to keep his mind occupied on the lack of sound, he hummed a song he heard Macy singing earlier today.

Someone shook Aaron awake. When did he fall asleep!?  
He quickly sat up and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes, trying to focus on who it was.  
“Clay? Sorry ‘bout that, dude, didn’t realize I’d dozed off. Is Jestro causing trouble?” The brunette raised a brow in concern as he hopped off his bed.  
*No, but you do have a visitor.*  
“I do?” Aaron echoed before realizing, “Oh! It must be Reggie!”  
*Yeah. I didn’t know you had a sister.*  
“I actually have twelve siblings.” Clay’s eyes widened.  
*You never talk about them?* Aaron shrugged.  
“It never came up.” The copper top said, walking out of his room and to the control room. He found his younger sister talking with Macy about something or another.  
“Reggie!”  
The bespeckled girl turned to him and smiled, *hey Aaron! I didn’t know Princess Macy was on your team!?*  
“How didn’t you? She graduated second in our class and the News really made a big deal about it.”  
*Ahh, you know Mom and Dad. They don’t like the News. Or any TV.* Reggie made a face at that.  
“True.” Reggie looked at someone behind him. She smiled again.  
*Yep, that’s me. Sister of the crazy daredevil.* She teased him. Aaron stuck his tongue out at her.  
*How come you’ve never told us you have a sister?!* Macy practically demanded.  
*He has six sisters actually. And six brothers. He’s the third born, I’m the fourth.*  
*There’s thirteen of you?!*  
“It’s…kinda part of the reason I was sent to the academy.” Aaron shrugged sheepishly. Reggie gave him a look.  
*Anyways, I told Jordan what happened, and it turns out she and Chris had a new pair already. Said they’ve had it for years.* The younger sibling handed him a box.  
“Thank you so much.” Aaron quickly opened the box and pulled out the headphones, turning them on and putting them over his ears. “So much better.”  
“…you specifically came all the way from Grinstead to give him a new pair of headphones?” Clay asked from behind him.  
“Jeez. Even I can wait for something like that to come in the mail.” Lance commented from his seat. Reggie snorted.  
“Aaron practically lives with those.” She gestured to her older brother.  
“Besides, it was a little strange seeing him without headphones.” Axl spoke up, hoping to help. Aaron sent him an appreciative smile.  
“Yeah, I’ll give you that. Maybe he’ll stop ignoring us now.” Aaron winced at Lance’s remark. A wince that Macy clearly saw.  
“Oh my gosh!” Macy suddenly exclaimed, her hand coming up to hover near her mouth, “Aaron, are you-?”  
“NO!” The archer interrupted, voice cracking at moments, “I am not, I’m completely fine, normal, like everyone else! Good bye!” And with that, Aaron left the meeting room and hurried down the hall, confusing the others. Reggie sighed.  
“You’ve backed him into a corner.” She said to the princess, “Aaron was always self-conscious about it, thanks to our parents.”  
“What do you mean? Self-conscious about what?” Clay asked carefully. Reggie sighed again.  
“You’ll probably find out eventually, but you have to promise that you won’t treat my brother any differently.” She turned to give a pointed glare to each of the knights, letting them know that she means business. They gave her a nod, as if agreeing to her terms. “It’s bad enough that everyone in our hometown thought he was different, including our parents. Aaron really only had our siblings to rely on.”  
“Why would he be considered different?” Merlok asked.  
“Because Aaron’s deaf.”  
…  
…  
…  
“WHAT!?”

“What do you mean Aaron’s deaf!?” Lance exclaimed.  
“He never indicated something like that.” Clay said.  
“It would explain why he was ‘spacey’ after his headphones broke.” Macy said.  
“I kinda figured it out earlier.” Axl admitted.  
“Aaron won’t give any tells with that.” Reggie explained, “our parents pretty much thought he was useless and didn’t really spend much time with him, they did have twelve other kids. So Chris and Jordan, the oldest two, decided to help and made the headphones.”  
“But still, why wouldn’t he tell us about that?” Clay asked, “what if the headphones suddenly quit in the middle of a battle?”  
“Aaron’s smarter than he lets on. If something like that would’ve happened, he would make sure he was close enough to the rest of you. Plus he’s one of the best actors I’ve ever seen. He could be really depressed and everything, but act like nothing’s wrong.”  
“Well, we’ve already seen that.” Lance grumbled, crossing his arms.  
“He’s surprisingly convincing, isn’t he?” Reggie smirked. Lance grumbled.  
“Perhaps you can show Ava how Aaron’s headphones work?” Merlok suggested, “in case they break again and we cannot get a hold of you.”  
“That’s a good idea, actually. And if you want to help a little more, you guys can learn sign language.”  
“I already know a little.” Axl announced, “a couple kids back home were deaf.”  
“My mom wanted me to learn it for some reason, so I know some, too.” Macy stated.  
“Great! So you can help the others while I help…Ava, right?”  
“That’s me.” The brunette girl agreed.  
“Okie dokie.”

* * *

Aaron laid on his bed, just _waiting_ for one of the others to show up and confront him. It took them _**a lot**_ longer than he expected for someone to knock on his door. “Come in.”  
And he definitely wasn’t expecting his sister to enter.  
“How ya doin, bro?”  
“Ugh.” He threw his arm over his eyes, “Worst day _EVER_.”  
“I can imagine.” He felt her sit next to him. “I had a little talk with your team.”  
He shot up and looked at her, “what? _Why_?!”  
“Aaron, they needed to know, in case of a worse case scenario. I get it, you don’t like having people know, but when you’re a knight, you need to have trust and faith in your teammates.”  
“I do! I always do!”  
“Then why didn’t you tell them?”  
“Do you know how fast rumors spread in school?!”  
“I don’t mean during school! After you graduated! Surely they’ve seen you fight without your headphones once or twice, so it wouldn’t really change anything. They’d know if you were having an off day and pick up your slack or help out.”  
“I—,” Aaron fell silent and hugged his knees to his chest, “…I was afraid of loosing them.”  
“…Aaron…not everyone is like Mom and Dad or our town. There are people who don’t really mind about these things if you know how to take care of yourself. And best friends will do what they can to help.”  
“Or they pretend to be your friends and leave you if you’re different.” Aaron muttered.  
“Didn’t you guys try to help Clay when he was turned to stone and forgot his memories?”  
“Of course we did!”  
“And why was that?”  
“He’s our leader. Our friend.”  
“So why would you be any different?”  
“Because I’m broken.”  
“You _are **NOT**_!” Both siblings jumped at Macy’s shout. She and Clay stood in the doorway, the latter looking concerned and the former furious. “You can’t help that you were born that way!”  
“How long have you been there?”  
“Long enough.” Clay answered. “Regina’s right, you’re our teammate, our _friend_. So what if you’re a little different? I now have to wear a cuff to keep my magic from going out of control. That’s pretty much like your headphones.”  
“…didn’t think about that…” Aaron admitted, watching Macy pace the length of his room while fuming. The three of them were silent as they watched the princess.  
“Now I see why her crest is a dragon.” Reggie stated.  
“I believe it was her mother’s crest.” Clay offered.  
“Makes sense. Queen Halbert always seemed more…gung-ho than King Halbert.”  
Aaron chuckled at his sister. “You could say that Macy’s a spitfire.”  
The princess paused and leveled a hard stare at him, “you’re lucky you’re one of my close friends.”  
“Well, as much as I’d like to stay longer, Mom ’n’ Dad are away for a couple weeks and I’m left watching the youngest five. I swear, if William or AJ have exploded the house, I’m gonna kill Riley.” Reggie said, giving an exasperated look to her older brother. The knights took that as a cue and walked with her to the front door.  
“Mmmm… Tucker, _maybe_ Parker, but never Riley.” Aaron argued. The younger sibling considered it.  
“True, they’d prolly lock Ri in the closet to get what they want.”  
“They have before.”  
“Unfortunately. Gimme a call if you need me!” Reggie shouted as she climbed into her jeep, then sped off with a wave. The blue, red, and green knights waved as well until they couldn’t see the vehicle, then walked back in.  
The trio walked into the control room to find Lance banging his forehead off the round table. “Uh, Lance? What’re you doing?” Clay asked, somewhat concerned.  
“How does anyone learn this so quickly?!” The silver knight pointed to the screen, which was showing how to use sign language.  
“Depends on the person.” Aaron answered truthfully.  
“I studied for years.” Macy said, crossing her arms.  
“Uhhh…I think my magic is somehow making me understand it a lot quicker than usual…is that normal?”  
“Dude, that’s a question for Merlok. Where is he anyways?” The copper top asked.  
“Helping Ava and Robin with looking over the schematics Reggie left them.” Macy said.  
“Of course she did.” Aaron muttered.  
“Better safe than sorry.” Clay replied. “And speaking of Merlok, if your headphones ever break again and we can’t get a new pair right away, he’s gonna put the words he speaks at the bottom of his hologram, since you probably won’t be able to read him.”  
“Helpful.”  
“Axl just went into the kitchen. Said something about making a special dinner for tonight.” Lance said, turning back to the screen with a glare.  
“Uh, if it helps, I can read lips. You just have to be looking at me.” Lance turned back to them and gave Aaron a annoyed look.  
“Well, why didn’t you say so?” The green knight shrugged, glancing at the red and blue knights, who chuckled quietly.  
“We pretty much just did.” Lance grumbled something under his breath, then huffed out of the room.  
“See? That wasn’t so bad now, was it?” Macy teased. The copper top gave her a look.  
“Still the worst day ever.”  
“But has a pretty good ending.”  
“Yeah, I’ll give you that.”  
“DINNER’S SERVED!” Axl bellowed.

**Author's Note:**

> I borrowed the 'magic cuff' Clay has from another author here...I _think_ it was KennaWrites?
> 
> Yes, I now have a headcanon that Aaron CONSTANTLY has the headphone bc he's deaf. I cannot convince myself otherwise.


End file.
